Scout Regiment

Names

Information

Commander

Occupation

Total Members

Notable Members

Affiliation

Status

Disbanded (until further notice)

The Scout Regiment is the primary titan killing force as it is the branch of the Military most actively involved in direct Titan combat, Titan study, human expansion, and outside exploration. They have the best soldiers (not to be compared with the Top Trainees who joins the Military Police), and are the most skilled in using the omni-directional mobility gear. But, despite having little success, they still symbolize 'the hope of mankind' with their insignia being known as 'the Wings of Freedom'. They hope that someday, their efforts will change the world and they will be able to recover what has been taken away from humanity.

Contents

Duty

This military division is in charge of the exploration and the eventual reclamation of human territory from Titan-infested lands through the act of setting up small bases, camps, resupply stations, and extra fortifications in available areas outside the Walls. This branch of the military has by far the highest death rate. Prior to the breach of Wall Maria by the Colossal Titan, they explored the land outside of the walls, though never getting that far due to the heavy casualties suffered from Titan attacks.

A more recent unofficial duty has been Titan observation and research. Given the safer nature of exploring within wall territory (since Titans can only enter the wall at one point), a wealth of information has been revealed such as their tolerance of pain, sunlight dependence, and intelligence.

Structure

The Scout Regiment is the largest branch of the military in terms of membership, with an overall size of 1 soldier. This already-limited number of volunteers is made less and less by commonplace deaths and an infamy surrounding the body count that frightens most away from joining.

Their stables also include a total of 600 specially-bred Horses. These horses are noted to be exceptionally valuable, and bred for great speed, stamina, and calm temperament.

Qualities

Since the Scout Regiment is constantly on the front lines, fighting Titans, its high fatality and low success rate discourages most people from enrolling into the legion, as seen when only 10% of the 104th Cadet Corps joins them.Thus, the Legion suffers a constant personnel shortage and the only soldiers who enter the Scout Regiment is dedicated to the cause of humanity, usually at the cost of their own lives. In stark contrast to the Military Police, there is no laziness or incompetence in the Scout Regiment, and no corruption. Whether at their headquarters or in battle, members of the Scout Regiment have no one to depend on but each other. This has built a strong atmosphere of trust in the Scout Regiment, and a general no-nonsense form of honesty among its personnel. Scout Regiment members tell and expect to be told of the truth, no matter how good or bad it might be.

Prides of the individual soldiers are also very high, as they are aware of not only being the best of the three military branches, but whatever progresses, victories mankind gains against Titans are gained at the cost of the scouts' lives. And as they boldly go to the realm where most humanity dares not, their pride is rightfully justified.

Trust between leaders and subordinates is absolute. Subordinates have absolute trust and admiration for their leaders even as they are dying; and in return the leaders would renew and confirm his determination to eradicate Titans to his men. This level of trust is necessary for a legion that has no one to rely on but each other.

While most soldiers do not survive their first expedition, each successive expedition exponentially increases their chances of survival. The Scout Regiment's most hardened veterans each have numerous Titan kills to their name and, far beyond any members of the Garrison Regiment or Military Police, are the most skilled soldiers in the entire military. With its frequent expeditions outside the safety of the Walls and regular combat engagements with the Titans, however, membership in the Scout Regiment is extremely dangerous. Each and every officer and enlisted man, from highest to lowest in rank, lives with the fatalistic knowledge that their next encounter with the Titans may well be their last.

Despite their small numbers, the discipline and fighting prowess of the Scout Regiment is regarded as the best out of the three military branches. There is no class-based segregation between officers and enlisted men, with all ranks sharing equally in the work and dangers. The Scout Regiment has a well-earned reputation for toughness and cool-headed courage in the face of extreme hardship; members will fight on even in the smallest, most isolated of groups. Scout Regiment members are physically and mentally tough, highly adaptable, and can be counted on not to panic even when the Garrison and Military Police personnel around them have broken ranks.

Unfortunately, this branch is also in the most uncomfortable position, politically and financially. Despite being the best out of the three military branches in terms of the overall quality of its officers and enlisted men. The bureaucrats, rich conservatives, and many Military Police members dislike the Scout Regiment and view it as a waste of money and resources. Due to the Legion's lack of definite, decisive successes and high losses of lives. Only from the 'support' of the King does the Legion still remain intact and protected from the greedy bureaucrats and hostile conservatives. Membership thus involves little glory, and Scout Regiment members are thus arguably humanity's finest and most sincere soldiers- not after money, glory or promotions, but truly committed to buying humanity a better tomorrow, whatever the cost may be. Anybody can join the Scout Regiment for that it does not have a certain requirement like the Military Police branch.

Strategy and Tactics

Due to the constant horrific losses suffered at the hands of Titans, the Scout Regiment has been forced to fight smarter to achieve their goals. The Scout Regiment uses Horses as one of the main resources to explore.

Long Range Scouting Formation

Developed by Queen Hapian2, the key to this formation is Titan avoidance. Because the Scout Regiment cannot afford to fight every Titan out in the open, the entire Legion is spread out over a large area, maximizing visibility. Upon encountering a Titan, a red flare indicates the danger and all soldiers who see the flare fire a red flare of their own, allowing Erwin to quickly be alerted to the Titan's presence. He will then fire a green flare in the desired direction to avoid this Titan with all members firing a green flare as well to allow the information to spread quickly.

However, there are occasionally Abnormal Titans that will break it apart by ignoring scouts on the perimeter and instead, attack the middle of the formation. In this case, a black flare indicates the danger and the Titan is disposed of as quickly as possible.

The entire formation is in the rough shape of a semicircle, and is composed of the following sections:

Forward scouts - Presumably the most reliable soldiers, they are spread out along the front rank of the entire formation. They are the members of the Legion who come into contact with the Titans more frequently, alerting the rest of the formation to the presence of Titans using red smoke rounds.

Scout support squads - They are one position deeper into the formation than the forward scouts, whom they help in combat if need be. It is possible that these soldiers were responsible for holding back the Titan attack on the formation's right flank during the 57th Expedition beyond the Walls.

Command - The Commander of the Scout Regiment is at the front of the formation, right behind the frontal scout squads. It's his job to judge the situation of the expedition, taking into account the flares fired by the rest of the formation and firing green signal flares to inform the Legion of new trajectories. The Commander is accompanied by a small number of men whose job it is to relay verbal messages to the rest of the formation.

Relay squads - Comprised chiefly of new recruits, it is their job to fire smoke rounds bidirectionally: both to inform Command of Titan sightings (red and black flares) and to inform the rest of the formation about a change of course (green flares). It is a relatively well protected area of the formation (after all, here are the most inexperienced soldiers), as it is not directly in contact with oncoming Titans and it is difficult to stray from the formation from this position.

Standby - This group is in the most protected part of the formation: This position is formed to protect someone important to humanity or to the success of the Scouts

Rear guard - These are the soldiers who ride at the very back of the formation, protecting it from Titan pursuit. It is a job which conceivably entails some risk, as it is possible to fall behind the rest of the formation.

This formation has lowered the Scout Regiment's losses by 30%. However, it can be rendered ineffective by bad weather, especially rain, when flares will become useless. This, combined with the drop in visibility from said rain or fog will reduce the ability of the formation to remain in communication and spot Titans.